Cannes film festival 2010: a competition roundup

At 9/4, Mike Leigh's latest, Another Year, is odds on favourite to clinch this year's Palme d'Or. It's already won his best reviews since Vera Drake. "A rich and deeply compassionate film, one of the best of Leigh's late period," wrote Peter Bradshaw. The Telegraph's David Gritten echoed the thought: "This is the first Leigh film that only an older man could have devised; it speaks eloquently of narrowing options and fading hopes in life's later years."
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A late screening doesn't seem to have hampered the chances for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (9/2). Why? Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a man with momentum behind him - and the film, say those who've seen it, is top notch ("beautifully entrancing" says Screen's Mark Adams)
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Opinion was more mixed on Biutiful – even within the same review. "As you might expect from Iñárritu," wrote Xan Brooks, "it's supple, muscular and confident. As you also might expect, it's perhaps a shade too self-important and prone to grandstanding." Still, it's got decent odds (6/1)
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Also at 6/1 is Ken Loach's Route Irish, which seems to be defying its slight reviews (Peter Bradshaw wrote of "pondering pacing"). Tim Robey of the Telegraph suspects Paddy Power of exercising Irish bias; and that's plausible, but it's perhaps also a reflection of the esteem Loach is held in by the festival organisers
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With Des Hommes et des Dieux (Of Gods and Men), Xavier Beauvois's 'time for wider recognition has surely come' says Jonathan Romney in Screen International. With 10/1 odds, it's worth a flutter Romney is right
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Burnt by the Sun 2 gets 12/1 odds for being a bit of a shocker. "Rarely has a sequel been so different to the film that spawned it," gasped Variety
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Copie Conforme, Abbas Kiarostami's Tuscan-set romance has been likened (favourably) to Journey to Italy by many newspaper, including Le Figaro and The Hollywood Reporter. Still, 12/1 are probably rather disappointing odds - he went into the comp something of a favourite
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Un Homme Qui Crie A Screaming Man is Chad's first ever contender in competition. "Heartfelt yet very modest" was the take of the Hollywood Reporter; Paddy Power are giving it 14/1
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They're giving the same odds to South Korean Alzheimer's drama Poetry. Could this be one for a hopeful punt? Time Out's Geoff Andrew, at least, thinks it's a masterpiece
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What is it with 14/1 odds that makes them so popular? Paddy Power have also reckoned Outrage stands about the same chance. Maybe they couldn't face really watching it: this year's grisliest flick had Peter Bradshaw admiring the opening, then admitting he saw the rest through his fingers
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Riot police were called in to damp down protests at Hors-La-Loi, Rachid (Days of Glory) Bouchareb's drama about the Algerian post-war struggle for independence. But Xan Brooks can't shake it from his head: "[A] rousing fraternal epic; big, broad and impassioned". Is 16/1 a little long? Tim Burton's jury would find no better way to make a splash
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"Too stolid, too by-the-book" was Xan Brooks's take on Fair Game, and Paddy Power seem to agree (they've given this 16/1). Could the jury dare award the top gong to the sole US film in competition?
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Old stager Bertrand Tavernier's La Princesse de Montpensier, was welcome more warmly than expected. "Compelling," thought Variety - this would make a safe, and hard-to-gripe-about choice for Burton's jury
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Mathieu Amalric is a popular man in France, and Tournee was indulgently welcomed, but few can think this burlesque drama has a serious chance. Paddy Power have it at 16/1
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At 18/1 soapy erotica The Housemaid has clearly been deemed too lowbrow to make a likely choice
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Xan Brooks will be fuming at such a low rating as 22/1 for Russian entry My Joy - for him, an apt title
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La Nostra Vita (22/1) is a comedy from the man behind My Brother is an Only Child. It looks hilarious
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At 22/1, Chongqing Blues seems rather underrated by Paddy Power - it won its admirers on the Croisette, including Jason Solomons, who praised the cinematography in particular
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Tender Son - The Frankenstein Project (33/1). Paddy Power will be paying out big if well-known Gothaphile Tim Burton plumps for this reworking of the Shelley classic
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